Key Lime Pie

Key Lime Pie

This is an absolutely wonderful recipe for key lime pie.  I use to make the graham cracker crust but now I buy the premade crusts.  I will post a recipe for making graham cracker crust separately, just in case you want to make your own.

I only use fresh key limes, regular limes will not work, and I have never tried the bottled key lime juice.  The first few time that I made this, I squeezed the limes by hand, but that is slow and tedious.  Then I decided to buy a cheap plastic lime squeezer.  It only lasted a couple of time before it broke.  I now have an aluminum squeezer we have been using it for at least 10-15 years.
 

There are two tricks to making this recipe.  The first is the secret ingredient that is not listed in the ingredients below, but it is key to making this key lime pie.  The secret ingredient is………..air, you have to incorporate lots of air into the mixture and cook it immediately, otherwise the air will escape from the mixture.  The second is to temper the pie as it is before removing it from the oven.  If you just take the pie from the oven and do not allow it to slowly cool in the oven it will have large cracks in it.

The Ingredients

4 egg yolks

1/2 cup fresh key lime juice

1 can 14 oz sweetened condensed

4 egg whites

1 cup heavy whipping cream

1/8 cup granulated sugar

 10 inch graham cracker pie shell (some stores only carry 8”)

Pre heat the oven to 350°

Bake the pie shell in a 350° preheated oven for 5 minutes.  I generally put the pie shell into the oven when I start beating the egg whites, but you can do it anytime just be sure it is ready when you finish mixing.

Mixing

Whisk the eggs in a medium size glass, or stainless steel bowl (incorporating air) I use an immersion blender for this, but a whisk or mixer will work just as good.

Add lime juice and sweetened condensed milk and whisk thoroughly (incorporating air) again I use the immersion blender

Whisk the egg whites until they are stiff but not dry (incorporating air). They should be able to hold a peak for at least 1 minute or longer, it will sag but it should not fall flat.   A couple of tips on whipping egg whites. Be sure that your bowl and beater are clean and dry.  Room temperature egg white will whip better than cold egg whites.  A warm bowl and beater work better than a cold bowl and beater.  If you do those things, you should have perfectly whipped eggs whites.  Other tips are use a copper bowl, add a pinch of cream of tartar, or add a few drops of lime juice.  Avoid aluminum or wooden bowls, or any bowl that may retain trace amounts of oil or soap.

Using a silicone or plastic spatula gently fold the egg whites into the key lime mixture.  Breaking or cutting into any large unincorporated clumps of egg whites.  We are trying to preserve all of that air we have so meticulous incorporated.  However we cannot have large clumps of eggs whites, that just will not work no one want to cut into their pie and eat a big bite of egg whites.  If you have, large chunks of egg whites gently lift them up with the spatula and press them with a clean fork that will break them up yet preserve most of the air.

Baking the pie

Place the graham cracker pie shell on a baking sheet.  Gently pour in the key lime pie mixture into the pie shell and put the pie into the 350° preheated oven for 15 minutes.

Here is where we start slowly cooling down the pie to minimize the cracks.

After the first 15 minutes of cooking, turn off the heat but leave the pie in the oven for 5 minutes.  Then crack the door and slowly let the heat escape.  For the next 10 to 15 minutes, I want you to slowly cool the pie down. Now our old oven had 2 places to crack the door open one at about 2 inches the other at about 6 – 8 inches, our new oven only has 1 stop to crack the door open and it is at about 5 inches.  With this oven I will crack the door open for about 15 seconds every couple of minutes, then open the door all the way for about 5 minutes before taking the pie out of the oven.

In the other oven, I would crack it open at the first stop and let it sit for 15 minutes then take it out.

You are going to have cracks in the pie, but by slowly cooling the pie, they should be small and shallow.

Allow to sit at room temperature on a cooling rack for a minimum of 1 hour then cover and refrigerate. 

 

The Whip Cream Topping

I do not make the whip cream topping until just before serving.  Here is how to make perfect whip cream every time.  Chill the bowl, beater and the cream in the freezer for 30 minutes. I use a KitchenAid mixer with a whisking beater. Make sure the bowl and beater are clean and dry.

Put 1/8 cup of sugar per 8oz of whipping cream in the bowl, start mixing on the slowest setting, again we are adding air.  Slowly increase the speed of the mixer until you are at the fastest setting this should only take about 3-5 minutes.  I know everyone uses powdered sugar, well one time I went to get the powdered sugar and we did not have any, so I was forced to use granulated sugar.  It made me think why did all of the recipes call for powdered sugar; I reasoned it was only because of the fine powdery texture of powdered sugar, as opposed to the course texture of granulated sugar. After all sugar is sugar but powdered sugar also has corn starch in it.  I used regular granulated sugar and it is now my standard way of making whip cream.

This pie does not have a long storage life, once it is topped with whipped cream. So if you top the whole pie with whipped cream plan on eating it in the next day or two. Otherwise top each slice just prior to serving.

Clifton